ASUS recently announced that it is the world’s first motherboard brand to support all NVM Express (NVMe) storage devices via a simple UEFI BIOS update and optional ASUS Hyper Kit expansion card.

The free UEFI BIOS update enable all ASUS X99 and Z97 motherboards to be compatible with the latest NVMe storage devices, including those with PCI Express (PCIe) and M.2 (PCIe) interfaces. All ASUS X99 motherboards are also compatible with the latest 2.5-inch NVMe SFF-8639 solid-state drives (SSDs), via the exclusive ASUS Hyper Kit expansion card — for ultimate data-transfer bandwidth up to 32Gbit/s.

NVM Express: The ultra-fast future of PC storage
NVM Express is a new storage architecture that upgrades the popular Advanced Host Controller Interface (ACHI) standard. The new technology eliminates the bottlenecks that constrain the performance of the newest SSD storage devices and improves power-efficiency, driving performance to new extremes and reducing running costs.

Only when connected via NVMe are consumers able to experience the very best performance from the latest-generation SSD storage devices for data-transfers are up to five times (5X) faster than traditional 6Gbit/s SATA connections.

Flexible and easy NVM Express support for all ASUS X99 and Z97 owners
All ASUS X99 and Z97 motherboards offer support for the latest-generation NVMe devices via a fast and simple UEFI BIOS update, applied using the ASUS-exclusive USB BIOS Flashback. This innovative utility downloads the latest UEFI BIOS to a USB flash drive, enabling users to update the award-winning ASUS UEFI BIOS quickly and easily. The motherboard does not even need to have a processor or memory modules in place: users simply connect the power supply, plug in their USB drive, press the USB BIOS Flashback or Reset button and then sit back and wait — there’s nothing else to do.

Once upgraded, all ASUS X99 and Z97 motherboards offer full support for both PCIe and M.2 NVMe storage devices. With the optional ASUS Hyper Kit expansion card, owners of ASUS X99 motherboards are free to attach 2.5-inch NVMe storage devices via the SFF-8639 (Mini-SAS HD) connector provided by Hyper Kit. ASUS Hyper Kit can be also purchased separately.

Availability
UEFI BIOS updates for all ASUS X99 and Z97 motherboards are available now. Please contact your local ASUS representative for further information.